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Our Bureau

New Delhi, Feb. 4

Customers of auto fuels, petrol and diesel, may have to prepare themselves to pay more for the products.

The Government is likely to raise retail selling prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre and Re 1 per litre, respectively, later this week.

This is to partially cushion the impact of volatility in international crude prices on the profitability of public sector oil marketing companies.

A senior Petroleum Ministry official told newspersons here “the Cabinet will take a decision on the issue this week”. The Cabinet usually meets on Thursday, but a possibility of it meeting earlier is not ruled out. Indications are that there is unlikely to be any change in duties on petroleum products, an option being considered to lessen the burden on customers.

The last increase in auto fuel prices had happened in June 2006, when the Government had raised petrol price by Rs 4 per litre and diesel by Rs 2 per litre. Subsequently, the prices were reduced in two phases in November 2006 and February 2007.

Currently, the retail selling price of petrol in Delhi is Rs 43.52 per litre, while diesel is sold at Rs 30.48 per litre. The Indian crude basket on Friday stood at $89.09 a barrel. Indian Oil Corporation is losing Rs 172 crore per day on sale of auto and cooking fuels, LPG and kerosene, below the cost price.

The company hoped that the Government would take a decision on raising prices of petroleum products at the earliest. The oil marketing companies — Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation — are losing Rs 10.57 per litre on petrol, Rs 11.56 on diesel, Rs 19.89 on kerosene and Rs 331 on each LPG cylinder.

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